SR. HELEN CROSBY: A CROSBY NIECE

I have been trying to research Bing's family more extensively. With all of the siblings Bing had, he had an extended family that you never heard about. One example of that is Bing's one niece - Sr. Helen Crosby. Sr. Helen was the daughter of Bing's brother Edward (Ted) Crosby. Sr. Helen Dolores "Dixie" Crosby was born on May 18, 1934. She died on July 22, 2007. Here is her obituary, which was surprisingly pretty extensive:

Sister Crosby, a longtime educator, died of cancer in her convent home in Spokane. She was 72.
Sister Crosby, known as Dixie to her friends and family, grew up in Spokane, the niece of famed crooner Bing Crosby. When she and her twin sister were born, their dad sent Bing Crosby a telegram: "It takes three of a kind to beat two queens." A few months later, when Bing Crosby's twin sons were born, the singer sent a telegram: "A pair of kings arrived today."
After teaching in Spokane, Sister Crosby moved to the Seattle area, where she taught at Holy Rosary School in Edmonds and served as principal at Our Lady of the Lake School in Seattle and Immaculate Conception School in Everett.

Whenever Franklin High School basketball coach Jason Kerr would send an e-mail to his beloved teacher, he would proofread it four times before sending it.

Sister Dolores Crosby "was better than spellcheck," said Kerr. "She'd never miss an opportunity to correct something we wrote." Kerr, who attended Lady of the Lake, said he remained friends with Sister Crosby until her death. "She had a big impact on my life, keeping me grounded," he said. "She ... had a big part in what I do."

Sister Crosby's twin sister, Katie Ferguson, who lives in Richland, said her sister always called her "womb mate" and the two were very close. When they were in grade school, the two sisters would be seated next to each other, and Sister Crosby would whisper the answers to her sister.

Throughout her career, Sister Crosby liked preparing her students for life beyond grade school, friends and family said. Longtime friend Marge Davis, who met Sister Crosby when she worked in Spokane, said, "Everything she did was such a joy. The kids loved her and would go back and visit her long after they graduated. I never met a person who could keep so many friends."

Sister Crosby was also a Seattle Mariners fan and was named a Seattle Times Fan of the Week in 2001. She could rattle off batting averages and pitching records. She carried her keys on a Joey Cora key ring, decorated the walls of her Brier home with baseball calendars and cooked from a Mariners cookbook.

Sister Crosby also is survived by brothers Howard, of Walla Walla, and Ed, of Spokane, and sister Antonia Crosby, of Peabody, Mass...

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